Fall is the season not only for apple pies, but also for pumpkin bakes — and that's exactly what I'm bringing you today. I've already made a few pumpkin treats before: Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Muffin Cake, but today's star is a proper layer cake with a rich cream cheese frosting. The cake layers are made with grated pumpkin, and for a tropical twist I added canned pineapples, citrus zest, and cinnamon, while the frosting gets a dose of shredded coconut — and I coated the outside of the cake in shredded coconut too. The result is an incredibly delicious, indulgent cake — I'd even go so far as to call it the ultimate winter cake. The layers are wonderfully moist and tender, and the frosting is thick, rich, and buttery-tangy. And by the way, if you've ever made a Carrot Cake, you'll have a good idea of what to expect — the texture of this pumpkin cake is very similar to a classic carrot cake.
Ingredients:
- Cake:
- 250 g pumpkin (net weight)
- 250 g flour
- 200 g sugar
- 200 g vegetable oil
- 200 g canned pineapples
- 80 g walnuts
- 3 eggs
- zest of half an orange or lemon
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Frosting:
- 360 g cream cheese (2 packages of 180 g each)
- 120 g butter
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 30 g shredded coconut
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
How to cook tropical pumpkin cake
Peel the pumpkin and grate it on a medium grater (you want fine, thin shreds). Zest half an orange or lemon using a fine grater. Orange is preferable, but lemon works great too. Finely chop the walnuts on a cutting board and cut the pineapples into small pieces.
Add the dry mixture and fold it in thoroughly with a spoon or spatula using a bottom-to-top motion. The batter will be fairly thick but still pourable.
Grease a cake pan with butter (I use a 22 cm / ~9-inch pan). Pour in the batter and bake in an oven preheated to 170°C (340°F) for approximately 40–60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (be sure to check for doneness).
Make the frosting. Beat the softened butter thoroughly, gradually adding the powdered sugar and vanilla sugar, and continue beating until the mixture is very light and creamy.
Add the cream cheese and beat briefly until smooth. Make sure to use a true cream cheese — such as Philadelphia, Almette, Rasa, Buko, etc. I used Latvian Rasa cheese.
Place the second layer on top, add another third of the frosting, then add the third layer and frost the entire outside of the cake with the remaining frosting.
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